ABSTRACT
The speaker is Shaunaka Rishi Das,1 a member of the Oxford Centre for Vaishnava and Hindu studies. His depiction of the Patels as akin to a large family evokes images of community often associated with ethnic enclaves and religious collectives. But perhaps the most intriguing part of his statement is the nod towards the tribal Irish. Is Shaunaka revealing the sophisticated, reflexive awareness of self and remote other that is supposedly characteristic of identity in late modernity?2
